The present invention relates to a manually-actuated fluid dispenser pump, and to a fluid dispenser including such a pump.
To dispense metered doses of fluid contained in a reservoir, it is known that it is possible to use a fluid dispenser pump which is assembled to said reservoir, and by means of which the contents of said reservoir are dispensed by dispensing a dose each time the pump is actuated. To ensure that most of the fluid contained in the reservoir is dispensed, provision is generally made, at least in devices that are used in the upright position, for a dip tube to extend down to the bottom of the reservoir. In order make sure that emptying is good when little fluid remains, provision is often made to dispose the bottom end of the dip tube at a side edge of the bottom of the reservoir, so that, by tilting said reservoir slightly, almost all of the fluid can be dispensed through the dip tube. To achieve that, one of two options is generally chosen. In a first option, the dip tube is flexible and slightly longer in the axial direction than the depth of the reservoir, so that, when the pump is assembled to the reservoir, the bottom end of the dip tube comes into abutment against said bottom of the reservoir, and, by means of its flexibility, is flexed or deflected towards a side bottom edge of said reservoir. However, that is not always possible, in particular when the dip tube is made integrally with a portion extending inside the pump body, which makes it impossible for the dip tube to be made of a flexible material. In addition, the use of flexible dip tubes can be a drawback in certain assembly systems, in particular when the diameter of the opening of the reservoir is very small and when the assembly rate is fast. That can result in the dip tube not penetrating into the reservoir during said assembly. Another option for placing the bottom end of the dip tube at a side bottom edge of the reservoir consists in assembling a dip tube to the pump directly in a tilted configuration, and then in assembling said pump together with said tilted dip tube to the reservoir. That option suffers from a major drawback: it complicates the operation of assembly to the reservoir, since said assembly can no longer be performed merely axially because of the tilt of the dip tube.
An object of the present invention is to provide a fluid dispenser pump that does not suffer from the above-mentioned drawbacks.
In particular, an object of the present invention is to provide a fluid dispenser pump that guarantees good emptying of the contents of the reservoir to which the pump is assembled, in spite of a substantially rigid dip tube being used.
An object of the present invention is also to provide such a fluid dispenser pump that is simple and inexpensive to manufacture and to assemble.
In particular, an object of the present invention is to provide such a fluid dispenser pump that avoids any risk of malfunctioning while the pump is being assembled to the reservoir containing the fluid to be dispensed.
The present invention thus provides a manually-actuated fluid dispenser pump comprising a pump body having a longitudinal axis, and a dip tube connected to said pump body and serving to extend towards the bottom of a reservoir to which said pump is assembled, said pump being characterized in that said dip tube is substantially rigid and extends axially along the longitudinal axis of the pump prior to the pump being assembled to the reservoir, said dip tube being provided with deflection or tilting means so that, after assembly, said dip tube forms an angle with said longitudinal axis of the pump.
In a first embodiment of the present invention, said deflection or tilting means comprise a deflection zone formed on the dip tube in the vicinity of the pump body.
Advantageously, said deflection zone is formed by a thin walled portion of said dip tube.
Advantageously, the dip tube is provided with a radial annular flange that co-operates inside the pump body with an annular end wall of the pump body, said dip tube being assembled to said pump body via the inside of the pump body, and said radial flange supporting the spring of the pump.
Advantageously, the dip tube is provided with a hollow axial tube extending from said radial annular flange towards the inside of the pump body.
Advantageously, said dip tube, said radial annular flange and said axial tube are made integrally with one another.
In a second embodiment of the present invention, said deflection or tilting means comprise a tilt ball connected in leaktight manner to a ball-receiving portion of the pump body.
Advantageously, said tilt ball and said ball-receiving portion are both substantially spherical in shape.
Advantageously, said tilt ball of said dip tube is assembled, in particularly snap-fastened, to said ball-receiving portion of the pump body.
Advantageously, on assembling the pump to a reservoir, the end of the dip tube comes into abutment against the bottom of the reservoir, thereby actuating said deflection or tilting means.
The present invention also provides a fluid dispenser device including a pump as defined above.